Name: Frank Tillman Age: 30 Gender: Male Occupation: Journalist Social Class: Middle Class American Financial situation: Stable Appearance: Wears glasses, handsome Location (map): Nanking Habitual locations: Office, Field Daily routine:
Wake Up in the Morning
Exercise
Eat Breakfast
Heads to the Office
Eat Lunch
Daily Works and Duties
Eat Dinner
Talk with Family
Sleeps Personality/Quirks/Unique Personality Traits:
Outgoing, sociable, Hardworking Past/individual-family history:
His wife Peggy is also a reporter. Family:
Peggy Durdin(Wife) Social relations with your own and other classes (people you deal with or know about in other classes, AND your opinions and feelings about them): He has close relationships with people. He doesn't have a enemy as he is very outgoing. Religion: Christianity Education: Texas Christian University; highly educated
Portrait:
Due: Tuesday, November 16, 2010 Task: Write a letter, journal entry, or other form express your character point of view, as the Japanese have officially just claimed war on China. Length: minimum 300 words
Dear Diary,
I woke up early in the morning and the day wasn’t significantly different from any other usual days. It's been only a week since I arrived here. Tension here is very high between China and Japan and now that the Japan have declared a war on China. I was sent here to report and honestly, I'm scared. People here are scared of a war and are very concerned about this situation, but they are still doing same work. They can’t imagine dead bodies, blood and horrible sights that they might see during the war. Kids are still playing on the streets and their parents are smiling as they watch their children. They might even die during the war. I hope that Nanking doesn't get invaded despite the fact that Nanking is a eastern coastal city where Japan can easily attack.
I’m not sure whether I should be happy or not. It’s been a several years since I joined the staff of the New York Times, but I haven’t reported something big until now. This report might be the most important for my career. Japan have officially declared a war on China. If I report regarding this war, I might get higher salary and more chance to report Asian events because I will be an expert. However, I, too, am worried to be here at the battlefield. I might die writing about the war. According to my research, Chinese Nationalists and Communists are separated and if they are willing to beat Japanese, they should join forces together. I heard that there were discussions whether one should join other or not and they should. Japanese are very strong after their modernization. I need to start collecting data and create report so that I can send it to the office. By this report, I might earn more money as this report is very risky. Although the war hasn’t started yet, I, as a reporter, know that Japanese own a modernized weapons compare to that of Chinese. And if the war starts, Japanese have better chance of winning the war. I hope that this city would be safe.
Staying here might make get me more money but with the risk of my life, I am worried. Should I stay here and report or just leave? This is my job to report about the war here. But I don’t want to see my family suffer because of my job and I don't want them to die at any cost. I better sleep and discuss this with my family because this is huge to both my family and I.
Diary # 2: A Knock at the Gate
Dear Diary,
After discussing with my family and thinking about my future, I decided to stay here and report about the Japanese declaration of the war and the war itself. I was sent by the New York Times to research and report about this. Thus, I decided to do my job rather than getting fired. Luckily, Chinese Army was surrounding the city of Nanking for protection purpose. Thus, I was able to start asking questions and gathering information for my report. I saw a valiant looking man with muscular outlines. He is Chiang Kai-shek, the famous general of the Chinese Nationalists. An interview with him will gain me a huge amount of information and I started asking questions to him(I desperately needed this). It may seem rude to interview a person without prior scheduling, but it is my job to do so and I didn't want to miss my chance. Interviewing him might make me look more credible for the report.
I asked questions regarding the current situation of China and the war. Because asking more specific questions would make me look like a Japanese spy and they could kill me. So, I didn’t get much information out of Chiang Kai-shek. However, just the fact that I interviewed with general made me satisfied. Although the situation of China is not good, city of Nanking is okay. People are doing their works and children are still on the streets playing. However, the war is near and I can clearly see that people are starting to prepare for the war. They are doing their works but at the same time, saves food and water.
After meeting with Chiang Kai-shek, I decided to look for geographical situation of Nanking. Learning the geography of this city will help me during the war and while I'm writing the report. Furthermore, it could gain me more information regarding the possible strategy. I learned that the Yangtze River was near and the Ningzheng Ridge was surrounding the city after talking with people here. Through this geological research, I learned that the strategy would matter a lot here because of the river and the ridge. It could be worse for Chinese because Japan has modernized weapons and they could clearly attack from farther distance. More people might die because of the river when Japanese try to cross it and Chinese try to stop Japanese.
I sent a basic research and report progress to the New York Times as I got back to the home(to show that I am doing my work). Spending night with my family, I though about how Japan got stronger with the Westernization and why didn't China do it. As I think about these stuff, I started to worry about not only my life, but also my family members’ lives. Japan’s guns and their better ammunitions would overtake Nanking easily. The winner of the war won’t be important but the time period that China can stay will matter. Let’s see how this will happen and hopefully, we will survive.
Diary # 3: The Gates Come Tumbling Down
Dear Diary,
Although the tension between China and Japan started to rise from long time ago, today is the first time that Japanese soldiers came in to occupy the city. Chinese people are shocked to see Japanese soldiers at first and after few seconds, they started running around and away from the Japanese because Japanese possessed strong weapons. These Japanese soldiers have killed Chinese soldiers without a problem with their modernized weapons. I decided to stay hidden safely in the Safety Zone for foreigners. I hope that they won't attack here violating the law.
After few hours, the sound of guns shooting and bombardments stopped and I came out of the shelter to have a look. I saw Japanese soldiers controlling the city. The city was covered by the blood and the corpse of Chinese people. It was terrible to see people lying down dead, still and cold. I couldn’t find any beautiful aspects of the city that I saw when I first came here. Beautiful flowers and river are covered by the blood. According to the survivor here, Japanese soldiers raped women and killed them brutally. Japanese soldiers enjoyed doing this. I can’t believe that this could actually happen because they are same human beings. How could a human kill another human and enjoy doing that?! Not only I was scared to see this scene, but also I cried due to all the sadness after looking at the city. Although my family and I survived, it feels terrible to see people murdered brutally.
As a journalist, I have to report this. This is a huge and important news. However, I hate my job and I hate the fact that I have to report about this. I never enjoy writing about people's deaths even if it earns me money. Killing civilians should not happen even if it is during the war. Chinese people in Nanking deserves to live and no person has a right to kill another person. Although as a journalist I can’t be biased, I am a person with feeling. What happened here is cannot be justified and Japan should apologize to China for what they did.
I thank God that my family and I are safe.
Diary # 4: Through the Gates into Hell
Dear Diary,
In the Safety Zone, I didn’t feel good listening to the waves of machine guns firing and bombardments. Now that it stopped, other reporters and I decided to go and see what had happened. As we left the Safety Zone, we were scared because the war might be still going on.
As we went to see the battlefield and the streets that we used to walk, we didn’t hear anything and saw horrendous city. And, we saw the mound formed by dead bodies and the street was filled with corpse of men, women, children and everyone. The place where children used to run around and play, where adults used to go to the work is now filled with same people except dead. Everyone was horrified to see this.
We wrote down some notes and discussed about what we saw. We are all reporters and combined our ideas to spread this happening to the world. We thought that this event should be known to everyone, because this should not happen anymore. If this event remains uncovered, then this might happen again. We decided to send our reports to offices as soon as possible.
We met a survivor afterwards and she was raped by Japanese soldiers. We asked her to explain more about it and she cried when she thought about it. Although she survived, her mental is severely damaged. She will never forget the time that she was raped. She is not the only person with this problem. Everyone, who got raped will have the same problem. Japanese have not only killed hundreds of thousands people, but also mental problems to those who survived. They should not be justified what so ever. They have affected hundreds of thousands of people and they should apologize to Japan.
Although I survived, I am still depressed to learn that huge number of people died. Thank god that my family and I survived.
During those few weeks in Nanking, I have lived through nightmare moments everyday and night. I saw hundreds of thousands people getting murdered and women were getting raped for entertainment of Japanese soldiers. After several weeks, Japanese started to leave the city and from the Safety Zone, I saw survivors in the refugee zone. Thank god that the Japanese have respected the Safety Zone. I decided to live the city now because the event is over and I have to start reporting other events.
I still remember the streets that were filled with dead bodies after the sound of waves of machine guns. And the scene that people cleaning up. I have met several people and interviewed them for my report.
First, I met Xie Kwang, a young Chinese woman. According to people near her, she is a very kind and nice lady who stays at house usually. However, the incident have changed her. She got scared of me at first because I’m a foreigner and she tried to avoid me. However, I waited for her to open up a little bit and I asked few questions. She said she was raped by a Japanese soldier and felt horrified and thought she would die. She doesn’t know how she survived after that, but she stayed in the refugee zone. Because it felt like she was tired and scared, I stopped asking questions and sent her to her friends or family.
While coming back to America from another trip, I met John Gillespie, a very wise man. He is a missionary and graduated from Yale University. We discussed about this incident and we were both happy that this ended. He and I both hoped for no casualties before the war and we remained in silent when the topic of dead people was brought up. He had helped people during the war and we both decided to tell the world what had happened here. I, therefore, am writing a further report and he is going to tell the story during his missions. Events like this should never happen again.
I am glad that this ended and that my family is safe. However, I’m deeply depressed thinking about those who died during the incident.
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Occupation: Journalist
Social Class: Middle Class American
Financial situation: Stable
Appearance: Wears glasses, handsome
Location (map): Nanking
Habitual locations: Office, Field
Daily routine:
Wake Up in the Morning
Exercise
Eat Breakfast
Heads to the Office
Eat Lunch
Daily Works and Duties
Eat Dinner
Talk with Family
Sleeps
Personality/Quirks/Unique Personality Traits:
Outgoing, sociable, Hardworking
Past/individual-family history:
His wife Peggy is also a reporter.
Family:
Peggy Durdin(Wife)
Social relations with your own and other classes (people you deal with or know about in other classes, AND your opinions and feelings about them): He has close relationships with people. He doesn't have a enemy as he is very outgoing.
Religion: Christianity
Education: Texas Christian University; highly educated
Portrait:
http://mylittlestar.info/Prose/Power/Images/Nanking.jpg
Diary # I: Calm Before the Storm
Due: Tuesday, November 16, 2010Task: Write a letter, journal entry, or other form express your character point of view, as the Japanese have officially just claimed war on China.
Length: minimum 300 words
Dear Diary,
I woke up early in the morning and the day wasn’t significantly different from any other usual days. It's been only a week since I arrived here. Tension here is very high between China and Japan and now that the Japan have declared a war on China. I was sent here to report and honestly, I'm scared. People here are scared of a war and are very concerned about this situation, but they are still doing same work. They can’t imagine dead bodies, blood and horrible sights that they might see during the war. Kids are still playing on the streets and their parents are smiling as they watch their children. They might even die during the war. I hope that Nanking doesn't get invaded despite the fact that Nanking is a eastern coastal city where Japan can easily attack.
I’m not sure whether I should be happy or not. It’s been a several years since I joined the staff of the New York Times, but I haven’t reported something big until now. This report might be the most important for my career. Japan have officially declared a war on China. If I report regarding this war, I might get higher salary and more chance to report Asian events because I will be an expert. However, I, too, am worried to be here at the battlefield. I might die writing about the war. According to my research, Chinese Nationalists and Communists are separated and if they are willing to beat Japanese, they should join forces together. I heard that there were discussions whether one should join other or not and they should. Japanese are very strong after their modernization. I need to start collecting data and create report so that I can send it to the office. By this report, I might earn more money as this report is very risky. Although the war hasn’t started yet, I, as a reporter, know that Japanese own a modernized weapons compare to that of Chinese. And if the war starts, Japanese have better chance of winning the war. I hope that this city would be safe.
Staying here might make get me more money but with the risk of my life, I am worried. Should I stay here and report or just leave? This is my job to report about the war here. But I don’t want to see my family suffer because of my job and I don't want them to die at any cost. I better sleep and discuss this with my family because this is huge to both my family and I.
Diary # 2: A Knock at the Gate
Dear Diary,
After discussing with my family and thinking about my future, I decided to stay here and report about the Japanese declaration of the war and the war itself. I was sent by the New York Times to research and report about this. Thus, I decided to do my job rather than getting fired. Luckily, Chinese Army was surrounding the city of Nanking for protection purpose. Thus, I was able to start asking questions and gathering information for my report. I saw a valiant looking man with muscular outlines. He is Chiang Kai-shek, the famous general of the Chinese Nationalists. An interview with him will gain me a huge amount of information and I started asking questions to him(I desperately needed this). It may seem rude to interview a person without prior scheduling, but it is my job to do so and I didn't want to miss my chance. Interviewing him might make me look more credible for the report.
I asked questions regarding the current situation of China and the war. Because asking more specific questions would make me look like a Japanese spy and they could kill me. So, I didn’t get much information out of Chiang Kai-shek. However, just the fact that I interviewed with general made me satisfied. Although the situation of China is not good, city of Nanking is okay. People are doing their works and children are still on the streets playing. However, the war is near and I can clearly see that people are starting to prepare for the war. They are doing their works but at the same time, saves food and water.
After meeting with Chiang Kai-shek, I decided to look for geographical situation of Nanking. Learning the geography of this city will help me during the war and while I'm writing the report. Furthermore, it could gain me more information regarding the possible strategy. I learned that the Yangtze River was near and the Ningzheng Ridge was surrounding the city after talking with people here. Through this geological research, I learned that the strategy would matter a lot here because of the river and the ridge. It could be worse for Chinese because Japan has modernized weapons and they could clearly attack from farther distance. More people might die because of the river when Japanese try to cross it and Chinese try to stop Japanese.
I sent a basic research and report progress to the New York Times as I got back to the home(to show that I am doing my work). Spending night with my family, I though about how Japan got stronger with the Westernization and why didn't China do it. As I think about these stuff, I started to worry about not only my life, but also my family members’ lives. Japan’s guns and their better ammunitions would overtake Nanking easily. The winner of the war won’t be important but the time period that China can stay will matter. Let’s see how this will happen and hopefully, we will survive.
Diary # 3: The Gates Come Tumbling Down
Dear Diary,
Although the tension between China and Japan started to rise from long time ago, today is the first time that Japanese soldiers came in to occupy the city. Chinese people are shocked to see Japanese soldiers at first and after few seconds, they started running around and away from the Japanese because Japanese possessed strong weapons. These Japanese soldiers have killed Chinese soldiers without a problem with their modernized weapons. I decided to stay hidden safely in the Safety Zone for foreigners. I hope that they won't attack here violating the law.
After few hours, the sound of guns shooting and bombardments stopped and I came out of the shelter to have a look. I saw Japanese soldiers controlling the city. The city was covered by the blood and the corpse of Chinese people. It was terrible to see people lying down dead, still and cold. I couldn’t find any beautiful aspects of the city that I saw when I first came here. Beautiful flowers and river are covered by the blood. According to the survivor here, Japanese soldiers raped women and killed them brutally. Japanese soldiers enjoyed doing this. I can’t believe that this could actually happen because they are same human beings. How could a human kill another human and enjoy doing that?! Not only I was scared to see this scene, but also I cried due to all the sadness after looking at the city. Although my family and I survived, it feels terrible to see people murdered brutally.
As a journalist, I have to report this. This is a huge and important news. However, I hate my job and I hate the fact that I have to report about this. I never enjoy writing about people's deaths even if it earns me money. Killing civilians should not happen even if it is during the war. Chinese people in Nanking deserves to live and no person has a right to kill another person. Although as a journalist I can’t be biased, I am a person with feeling. What happened here is cannot be justified and Japan should apologize to China for what they did.
I thank God that my family and I are safe.
Diary # 4: Through the Gates into Hell
Dear Diary,
In the Safety Zone, I didn’t feel good listening to the waves of machine guns firing and bombardments. Now that it stopped, other reporters and I decided to go and see what had happened. As we left the Safety Zone, we were scared because the war might be still going on.
As we went to see the battlefield and the streets that we used to walk, we didn’t hear anything and saw horrendous city. And, we saw the mound formed by dead bodies and the street was filled with corpse of men, women, children and everyone. The place where children used to run around and play, where adults used to go to the work is now filled with same people except dead. Everyone was horrified to see this.
We wrote down some notes and discussed about what we saw. We are all reporters and combined our ideas to spread this happening to the world. We thought that this event should be known to everyone, because this should not happen anymore. If this event remains uncovered, then this might happen again. We decided to send our reports to offices as soon as possible.
We met a survivor afterwards and she was raped by Japanese soldiers. We asked her to explain more about it and she cried when she thought about it. Although she survived, her mental is severely damaged. She will never forget the time that she was raped. She is not the only person with this problem. Everyone, who got raped will have the same problem. Japanese have not only killed hundreds of thousands people, but also mental problems to those who survived. They should not be justified what so ever. They have affected hundreds of thousands of people and they should apologize to Japan.
Although I survived, I am still depressed to learn that huge number of people died. Thank god that my family and I survived.
http://mylittlestar.info/Prose/Power/Images/Nanking.jpg
Diary # 5: A Survivor
Dear Diary,
During those few weeks in Nanking, I have lived through nightmare moments everyday and night. I saw hundreds of thousands people getting murdered and women were getting raped for entertainment of Japanese soldiers. After several weeks, Japanese started to leave the city and from the Safety Zone, I saw survivors in the refugee zone. Thank god that the Japanese have respected the Safety Zone. I decided to live the city now because the event is over and I have to start reporting other events.
I still remember the streets that were filled with dead bodies after the sound of waves of machine guns. And the scene that people cleaning up. I have met several people and interviewed them for my report.
First, I met Xie Kwang, a young Chinese woman. According to people near her, she is a very kind and nice lady who stays at house usually. However, the incident have changed her. She got scared of me at first because I’m a foreigner and she tried to avoid me. However, I waited for her to open up a little bit and I asked few questions. She said she was raped by a Japanese soldier and felt horrified and thought she would die. She doesn’t know how she survived after that, but she stayed in the refugee zone. Because it felt like she was tired and scared, I stopped asking questions and sent her to her friends or family.
While coming back to America from another trip, I met John Gillespie, a very wise man. He is a missionary and graduated from Yale University. We discussed about this incident and we were both happy that this ended. He and I both hoped for no casualties before the war and we remained in silent when the topic of dead people was brought up. He had helped people during the war and we both decided to tell the world what had happened here. I, therefore, am writing a further report and he is going to tell the story during his missions. Events like this should never happen again.
I am glad that this ended and that my family is safe. However, I’m deeply depressed thinking about those who died during the incident.